Genetics of wildlife diseases and its impact on biodiversity conservation

Abstract

Diseases of wildlife origin have great impact on the conservation of the vast global biodiversity and also take a toll on domestic animals’ and human health. Diseases of wildlife have the capacity to be of utmost concern because they can affect the economy and public health if not attended to promptly. An amazing 60% of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic and many of the recent cases have been proved to originate from wildlife. Knowledge of genetics is important to curtail the emergence of overwhelming wildlife diseases. Understanding the genetics of these diseases is important to give a better understanding of how they can be prevented and controlled to forestall the decimation of wildlife populations and consequent effect on biodiversity. Being armed with the knowledge of both, host and pathogen or parasite genome, would go a long way to pursue the solutions to wildlife diseases and their transmission. This review is geared towards promoting the incorporation of genetics and genomics and its diverse concepts and techniques into the process of detection, characterization, control and prevention of wildlife diseases.